The early days of living together as a family can be the stuff of dreams, or quite possibly, nightmares.  The concept of  having to share and compromise, always agreeing on what colours to choose or what second hand furniture would be best bought to make it home. . . . This memory came flooding backContinue Reading Keeping The Costs Down By Staying Over

When you are furnishing any place, be it a child’s bedroom, an office in the home – even a new dining room, there needs to be serious thought about a few things first.  It’s an expensive job and extremely unwise to go racing in to the huge furnishing superstores without a really good idea ofContinue Reading Avoiding The Commission Based Sales Push

We need to keep our eyes on trends in fabrics and furnishings these days otherwise it’s proving very easy to fal behind with what’s happening in the world of homecare.  For some years there was a tendency towards a rather bleak black, black and grey, black grey and red . . . .   Personally IContinue Reading Breaking Away From The Chain Store Decor Effect

I have now got to the point in the year when it’s obvious that certain property jobs need attending to.  I have a window cleaner come fortnightly and this spring they flushed out the guttering all round, and cleaned the soffits and barge boards – so goody, that difficult bit’s done.  It’s the inside ofContinue Reading Benefits Of Engaging Interior Design Team

Oh the joy I felt when a chum said he was coming over from his home in a nice sunny mediterranean isle to do some decorating jobs with his brother, and would have 2 weeks to help me with my own house . . .   I walked him around my house using my iPad onContinue Reading To Paint Like A Trojan – To Coin A Phrase

In the largely extended house mentioned in an earlier post, there is of course the point about furnishing a newly built extension.  Do you go for more of the same that you’ve had for years or do you go mad and replace absolutely everything with vibrant new styling throughout.  Well having spent about 100K onContinue Reading Redistribute Furnishings Scales Down Costs

I have had dealings with a family who bought an already rather spacious Edwardian town villa just outside a midlands city.    The house was double fronted with four rooms each on the ground and upper floor.  This was changed over the years to knock through both dividing walls downstairs to make two massive long rooms,Continue Reading Edwardian Villa Extended Half As Much Again

I expect there are quite a few of us careful folk who veer away from anything that contains the word bespoke.  It used to mean very expensive clothes – designers for the royal family would have studios offering a bespoke service with unique designs and service to match.   Today the phrase  bespoke design can alsoContinue Reading Perfectly Bespoke Prefab Luxury

Many families have traditionally gone through a decorating and refurb frenzy in the quiet months between New Year and Easter.  It’s like a natural home/nest building phase in life we don’t really look forward to, or enjoy, but just has to be done.  These days however, I notice the tv adverts are imploring us toContinue Reading Interior Design Help Replaces Home Decor Frenzy

I love watching the odd daytime lifestyle programme on tv.  I particularly like the house programmes – there used to be one in the late 1990s called House Doctor, and american lady used to enter the homes of folk who had failed to sell their homes by conventional methods and she was brought in toContinue Reading How To Tidy Up That Unsellable House